Clown of the Jungle Proboscis Monkey of Borneo Documentary Full Length

Summary

In this captivating documentary, viewers are taken on an enlightening journey through the lush landscapes of Borneo, focusing on its enigmatic inhabitant, the proboscis monkey. The documentary highlights the unique ecological dynamics of Borneo, where rivers and monsoons dictate life, and explores the secretive life of the rare proboscis monkey in its natural habitat. The film delves into the environmental threats faced by the island's wildlife, emphasizing the impact of human encroachment and habitat destruction. With insights from Dr. Liz Bennett, a leading zoologist, the documentary brings to light the critical conservation efforts needed to preserve Borneo’s distinctive ecosystem and its fascinating inhabitants.

Highlights

• The proboscis monkey is one of the rarest primates, found only in Borneo's swamps and mangroves. 🌊
• Their large noses are not just for show; they play a critical role in survival. 🎭
• Logging and agricultural activities have drastically reduced their natural habitats. 🚜
• Efforts by researchers like Dr. Liz Bennett aim to conserve their remaining populations. 👩‍🔬
• These monkeys are unique in their inability to survive in zoos due to their specialized dietary needs. ❌
• Promoting global awareness is key to preventing their extinction. 🌏

Key Takeaways

• The proboscis monkey is unique to Borneo and critically endangered. 🌿
• These monkeys have a distinctive long nose which is thought to help in attracting mates or regulating body heat. 🐵
• Human activity, especially deforestation, poses a significant threat to their survival. 🌳
• Efforts are underway in Borneo to protect these monkeys, but challenges remain due to habitat destruction. 🏞️
• Proboscis monkeys cannot be easily kept in captivity due to their specialized diet and stress from confinement. 🚫
• Conservation and education are crucial for the survival of proboscis monkeys. 📚

Overview

The documentary 'Clown of the Jungle' invites viewers to witness the fascinating yet precarious life of the proboscis monkey, a distinctive primate residing in Borneo's swampy habitats. Through stunning visuals, it paints a vivid picture of the monkeys' daily activities, their social structures, and interactions with other species in a shared environment, alongside the ever-present threats posed by human encroachment.

Viewers are introduced to the pioneering conservation efforts led by experts like Dr. Liz Bennett, who tirelessly work to understand and protect these unique creatures. The film weaves together stories of survival and adaptation, illustrating how the proboscis monkeys cope with natural predators and environmental changes, while spotlighting the broader environmental issues impacting Borneo's rich biodiversity.

The documentary also serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of conservation and education. It highlights the delicate balance required to preserve Borneo's ecosystems and the urgent need for global action to protect endangered species like the proboscis monkey from vanishing forever. By spreading awareness and fostering a deeper appreciation for these remarkable animals, the documentary strives to inspire action and change.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 05:00: Introduction to Borneo and Its Wildlife The chapter introduces the island of Borneo, highlighting its rich and diverse wildlife. It sets the stage by describing the geographical significance and ecological value of Borneo, which hosts a variety of habitats such as rainforests and mangroves. The chapter emphasizes Borneo as a crucial hotspot for biodiversity, home to numerous endemic species and unique ecosystems.
• 05:00 - 10:00: The Unique Proboscis Monkey The chapter discusses the unique environment of the Kinabatangan River in Southeast Asia, emphasizing the distinctive wildlife, particularly focusing on the proboscis monkey and the Borneo Gibbon. It highlights the natural sounds and sights of this jungle island, illustrating its significance as one of the last wild habitats for these species.
• 10:00 - 20:00: Environmental Threats and Habitat Loss Borneo is unique for having no man-made boundaries, relying instead on natural features like rivers and monsoons to define its regions. The Island lacks game parks and sanctuaries, allowing its wildlife, like elephant herds and bird life, to roam freely.
• 20:00 - 30:00: Social Behavior and Reproduction This chapter provides an exploration into the little-known life of the proboscis monkey, a rare and endangered primate native to coastal swamps. Known for its distinctive appearance with a long rubbery nose and pot belly, the proboscis monkey is less recognized than the orangutan and in greater danger than the gorilla. Its inability to thrive in captivity has kept much of its life a mystery until recent studies have begun to uncover the secrets of its behavior and reproduction in its natural habitat.
• 30:00 - 40:00: Predators and Survival Challenges The chapter titled 'Predators and Survival Challenges' delves into the diverse ecosystem found in the lush forests and rivers of the legendary island of Borneo. It explores the myriad of survival challenges that different species face, such as dealing with natural predators, finding food, and adapting to the environment. While the transcript snippet is minimal, involving only the mention of forests, rivers, and Borneo, it sets the stage for a broader discussion on the biodiversity and ecological dynamics of the region. Music cues possibly indicate scene transitions or emphasis points.
• 40:00 - 50:00: Conservation Efforts and Challenges The chapter begins with a description of a kingfisher bird surveying its surroundings, emphasizing the environmental setting with mist and hazy water conditions.
• 50:00 - 60:00: Threats to Proboscis Monkeys The chapter titled 'Threats to Proboscis Monkeys' discusses the increasing threats faced by the proboscis monkeys living in Borneo due to human activities. The narrative describes an ominous atmosphere as these monkeys sense danger and death from the ongoing destruction of their natural habitat. The focus is on the detrimental effects of human encroachment, as the wilderness of Borneo, home to various wildlife species, including the proboscis monkeys, is being ravaged. The chapter paints a grim picture of the environmental challenges threatening the survival of these unique creatures.
• 60:00 - 70:00: Captivity Challenges and Natural Habitat Needs Authorities often conduct controlled burns of land before the dry season to minimize bushfire risk and renew the landscape. Unfortunately, some plantation owners have exploited this practice, leading to severe environmental damage in Indonesia. Forestry companies have irresponsibly set vast forest areas on fire, causing irreversible destruction.
• 70:00 - 80:00: Efforts for Conservation Awareness The chapter discusses the environmental impact of land clearing for oil palm and other plantations. It describes the resulting smoke and haze, exacerbated by dry conditions caused by El Nino, which led to ash covering the island and its wildlife. Bird life disappeared, and primates like orangutans and proboscis monkeys fled their territories in fear as numerous spot fires occurred. These events further threatened the already endangered primate populations.
• 80:00 - 90:00: Conclusion and Reflection on Wilderness Conservation The final chapter discusses the impact of human activities such as hunting and habitat loss on wilderness conservation. It highlights an unintended, yet fortuitous event where early monsoon rains helped to alleviate the severe heat from the fires, providing a moment of relief and reflection amidst ongoing environmental challenges.

Clown of the Jungle Proboscis Monkey of Borneo Documentary Full Length Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] is
• 00:30 - 01:00 it's one of the last remaining calls of the [Applause] [Applause] wild the hooping Cry of the Borneo Gibbon Over The Still Waters of the kinabatangan river this jungle island in the heartland of Southeast Asia is as unique as the animals roaming under its steaming canab
• 01:00 - 01:30 for Borneo has no man-made boundaries only Rivers steep to rain and the monsoons keep track of its inhabitants there are no game parts to stem the elephant herds no sanctuaries to Reign the freedom of the Island's bird life Borneo has another
• 01:30 - 02:00 clay it's the only home to one of the world's rarest primates less heralded than the orangutan more endangered than the gorilla this bizarre monkey with its long rubbery nose and pot belly seldom survives in captivity until now little has been known of The Secret Life of the prosus monkey in its habitat the coastal swamp
• 02:00 - 02:30 forests and rivers of the legendary island of [Music] [Music] Borneo
• 02:30 - 03:00 [Music] the beady eyes of the stock build king fisher scan the dawn Mist rising from the river this year the summer haze has clouded already turbid Waters
• 03:00 - 03:30 in the trees the grumbling prascus monkey wonders at the thickening air an unfamiliar smell of danger and death shrouds the island once again man is on the march with this his most devastating attempt yet to raise the shrinking habitat of the Island's [Music] Wildlife Borneo is no no stranger to
• 03:30 - 04:00 Fire It's Not Unusual for authorities to burn off areas of forest and farming land prior to the dry season this minimizes potential bushfires and often regenerates the landscape in recent times the greed of many plantation owners has prompted an environmental catastrophe from which the island would never recover Indonesian forestry companies began incinerating vast wooded tracts in
• 04:00 - 04:30 a quick bid to clear the land for oil palm and other plantations the ensuing smoke and Haze coupled with the Tinder dry conditions caused by El Nino dumped blankets of Ash on the Island's creatures bird life disappeared terrified orangutans and prosus monkeys fled their territory ahead of hundreds of spotfires for these primates already under threat
• 04:30 - 05:00 from hunting inhabitat loss it was a cruel irony the monso came early this year crushing the heat of the fires
• 05:00 - 05:30 in the face of Fire and Water the prascus monkey has adapted better to water it's oily weatherproof first
• 05:30 - 06:00 squeezing up the heavy rain this Colony has adopted a coastal Forest of mangroves where the leaves are Lush and green on some days they will travel up to 2 kilm in search of food but here the supply fire will last a
• 06:00 - 06:30 while the Malay people call him the orang bander or Dutchman an unflattering
• 06:30 - 07:00 but affectionate nickname for a primate they say reminds them of the European race grotesque or gorgeous the male prascus monkey is a magnificent [Music] [Music] specimen averaging 20 kg and often more
• 07:00 - 07:30 than a meter tall he is one of the world's largest monkeys an advantage in the face of predators but for a tree dwelling creature a decided handicapp when attempting to travel in [Music] [Music] silence
• 07:30 - 08:00 [Music] a large male settles himself into the swaying branches of a mangrove tree he'll Gorge himself on the new leaves watched by other members of his clan here a young male his nose not yet the celebrated prosus of an adult eats
• 08:00 - 08:30 at a distance his fur ruffled from a windy night in the forest the punch of the prascus monkey isn't just a symptom of overindulgence like cows the animal's expanded stomach contains bacteria which ferments the food and breaks down cellulose from the bitter leaves primates sharing this characteristic are called cobine
• 08:30 - 09:00 the process means prosus monkeys can build up energy from leaves and some seeds a facility not shared by other primates such as maacs and baboons with a less complex digestive [Music] system
• 09:00 - 09:30 [Music] on the downside prascus monkeys can't eat sweet fruits insects or highly digestible seeds these would ferment too quickly in the animal's stomach causing bloat and probable death the different diets means there's little competition for food and prosus
• 09:30 - 10:00 monkeys and primates sharing their habitat largely ignore each [Music] other it's the monkey's nose which which not only gives the animal its name but
• 10:00 - 10:30 establishes it as a primate unlike any [Music] other there are two main theories as to why the male has developed such a large pendulus nose the most common is that it's a way of regulating body heat in the steamy Borneo [Music] swamps the monkey's large fermenting stomach generates a lot of heat too and as a large nose provides a bigger surface area the animal could cool down
• 10:30 - 11:00 in the same way as an elephant loses heat through its [Music] ears but the most likely scenario for the M's nose is its function as a tool to attract members of the opposite sex female monkeys are said to favor a large nose and over the years the genes needed to make them are the ones most readily passed on in the same way a peen admires the
• 11:00 - 11:30 flamboyant tale of the peacock the rubbery nose of the male prascus is said to stir the passions of the female monkey but whatever the reason the nose usually gets in the way when feeding the males often have to push it [Music] aside females aren't blessed with the fleshy appendage their short upturned
• 11:30 - 12:00 nose is similar to that of the young [Music] [Music] male the first time I ever saw one I was just completely blown away we were in a small boat in a mangrove area and we were out looking for these things I'd never seen them before
• 12:00 - 12:30 I've been studying other leaf monkeys and so I was used to seeing leaf monkeys in the forest and I just stood up in the boat and I just keep saying Pro monkeys Pro monkeys look Pro monkeys cuz they're so bizarre still every time I see them you still get some of that same feeling back it's like watching them for the first time because they are such extraordinary animals
• 12:30 - 13:00 there's little that Liz bener doesn't know about prusa's monkeys a British zoologist she spent 2 years studying a colony in the Malaysian state of saraek and these days her work in Borneo with the new york-based Wildlife Conservation Society puts her at the Forefront of efforts to save the species from habitat destruction and hunting
• 13:00 - 13:30 today the primate is protected by law in all parts of Borneo and a recent ban on the sale of wildlife products by the Malaysian government is a sign the region is getting serious about conservation issues there's been a big wild meat trade which is mainly ulence it's mainly Beed pigs and deer but if those are
• 13:30 - 14:00 hunted for the meat trade then that means that people in the interior that depend on no of their subsistence hunting running out of meat so they then start hunting smaller things like primates and Horn builds for their own food by stopping the wild meat Trade It should help the animals that are traded but it should also help all of the smaller species which are not traded and
• 14:00 - 14:30 which are not particularly resilient to hunting because things like primates horn bills they're very slow breeding
• 14:30 - 15:00 hunting isn't the only threat to the prosus monkey they're usually alert to
• 15:00 - 15:30 the stealth of the giant monitor but these lizards feed on meat and have been known to snap up primates feeding in the mangrove shallows
• 15:30 - 16:00 this young prosus is too intent on scuffling for young leaves to notice the potential danger sunning itself on the log behind
• 16:00 - 16:30 the monkey's greatest Predator comes from water not land esturine crocodiles wallowing in The Damp mud flats of the mangrove swamps wait for the animals to come down from their Treetops at low [Music] tide boscus monkeys often swim across rivers in search of food and the
• 16:30 - 17:00 Predators camouflage themselves among the Dead Leaves and mud of the [Music] bank but no Predator presents such a
• 17:00 - 17:30 threat to the prosus monkey as that of man and his continued assault on the environment the future for this primate is as Grim as that of its neighbor the gentle orangutan for the orang though there is some hope huge media campaigns have publicized the plight of this jungle giant following the devastating fires which scarred its Borneo habitat cash for rehabilitation centers
• 17:30 - 18:00 continues to pour in prompted by emotive pictures of Orphan [Music] durut the prosus monkey with its bizarre appearance is left in the [Music] [Applause] [Music] wake
• 18:00 - 18:30 borneo's coastal plains and rivers are
• 18:30 - 19:00 the only places in the world where prosa monkeys are found and with most towns
• 19:00 - 19:30 and Villages situated near water the growth of human development is gradually taking over the habitat of the Longnose [Music] primate the monkey's liking of mangroves and Peak swamp forests is shared by Timber companies and while logging is now restricted thousands of hectares of prime castal Woodland have been slashed burned or poisoned to enhance the next
• 19:30 - 20:00 [Music] crop
• 20:00 - 20:30 [Music] a baby pcus learns about climbing trees he'll stay with his mother for about 2 years when he'll team up with other males to form a bachelor group before collecting his own Herm
• 20:30 - 21:00 [Music] females breed all year round and after a pregnancy that lasts about 5 months the tiny babies are quick to learn the ropes young prosus love to play mothers often leave their offspring in play groups overseen by one adult female although sometimes babysitting
• 21:00 - 21:30 does take its [Music] toll these surrogate mothers are called aloe parents females without their own offspring but who seek opportunities to interact with young monkeys usually they have poor handling skills and have been known to drag an infant by the leg or dangle it upside
• 21:30 - 22:00 [Music] down the warning honk of the big male Echoes around the swamp he controls a Herm of seven females with various offsprings but younger males are constantly
• 22:00 - 22:30 patrolling the outskirts of the family group in a bid to challenge his Supremacy much of the time the dominant monkey stands guard posturing shaking branches and doing his best to deter any Potential Threat
• 22:30 - 23:00 Bachelor males too like to Flo their talents and will often indulge in spectacular leaps to impress the female [Music] monkeys but the big male's display will be
• 23:00 - 23:30 short-lived more often than not the coup will be bloodless with the aard male relegated to the edge of the forest every few years an outside male will eventually win and Chase out that harim male because that happens in all other cabine monkeys which have been studied and and indications are it happens in prosus monkeys as well
• 23:30 - 24:00 now if that happens the male will then kill all the existing dependent babies within the group because then the females will come quickly on heat and be able to have his babies so he can have his babies grow up some maturity while he's still in charge before someone else throws him out
• 24:00 - 24:30 [Music] [Applause] Dr Liz Bennett's study of prascus monkeys is the most detailed yet her two years sharing Coastal swamp forests with the primate Tor the monkey spend most of
• 24:30 - 25:00 their time traveling in search of food and resting their home range covers about 9 square kilm a year sometimes the riverine forests offer seeds for part of the Year while the young leaves of the coastal mangroves provide food at other times
• 25:00 - 25:30 prascus monkeys always return to water at night the cool air gives relief from the Heat and keeping a lookout for Predators is easier across an expans of water than among the secrets of the forest
• 25:30 - 26:00 [Music] [Music] [Music] w [Music]
• 26:00 - 26:30 a
• 26:30 - 27:00 a rusting reminder of a World War Shadows the path of the flae headed cat this wild feline shares the habitat of the prosus monkey and as a tree climber it's always on the lookout for young
• 27:00 - 27:30 prims the male is ever alert over his sleeping herum
• 27:30 - 28:00 morning wakes to the monsoon rains a herd of Asian elephants grazes on the soft grasses of the riverbank these creatures once roam freely across Asia the loss of habitat has decimated numbers and in borne here today they can only be
• 28:00 - 28:30 found in the northeast of the [Applause] island
• 28:30 - 29:00 at the river mouth the tide has turned soon the mangroves will be swamped by ocean a sea of water will cover the r pickings young leaves springing from the
• 29:00 - 29:30 ground Roof System the boscus monkeys Gorge then retire to the forest for a long [Music] digestion the young monitor caught up in the turrent will swim until it finds a log then wait in a few hours they' all be
• 29:30 - 30:00 back low tide leaves behind an array of curious [Music] creatures the per mud skipper fodder for the marauding maacs these gray hairy primates share the same habitat as the boscus that their diet of insects Frog's eggs crabs
• 30:00 - 30:30 and ripe seeds means competition for food is never an [Music] issue the hermit crab cowers under his portable Refuge he'll change shells as he grows
• 30:30 - 31:00 the Striking silvered Langer coexists in its shared territory with the other primates more timid than the opportunist macac reticent in the face of the large proboscis Herms the Langer keeps to small groups seldom venturing further in land than the coast swap
• 31:00 - 31:30 forests its natural diet of fruit young CHS and leaves doesn't compete with that of the prosus monkey so its home range is one of General harmonies prosus monkey belong to a group of primates called simply
• 31:30 - 32:00 odd-nosed monkeys and their closest cousin is China's spectacular Golden Monkey in both cases the male is the more dramatic of the Sexes the Golden Monkey with a snub nose and flowing Mane the proboscis with quaffed hair and long rubbery nose social behavior is also similar with both species the males keeping watch over their families Bachelor
• 32:00 - 32:30 groups waiting for their moment to take over the herum and babies anxious for new [Music] territory females of the species share characteristics turned up noses and mothers ever protective of their [Music] young
• 32:30 - 33:00 female prosus monkeys seldom travel alone but Bachelor males moving together in loose Clans will often break away from their group to follow a herum unlike most primates which usually stay within a specific family unit prosus monkeys will socialize with other groups female switch between Herm several times during their
• 33:00 - 33:30 lives young males evicted from the group when they're independent join a bachelor Clan A Move which can cause some confusion when observing primates in a herum it's very hard to tell the difference particularly with an adolescent male he looks very like an adult female and the main way to tell uh harim from an all male group actually is broadly the behavior of the
• 33:30 - 34:00 group The harim is more close-knit there's more social interactions going on which means there's more calling and things a lot of the time whereas an all male group because it's an aggregation of Fairly unrelated animals is more widespread and there's less interactions going on if you've been with them for about 5 minutes or so you can start to pick out that this is probably an all male
• 34:00 - 34:30 [Applause] [Applause] group
• 34:30 - 35:00 f
• 35:00 - 35:30 there are believed to be fewer than 7,000 cuscus monkeys left on the island of Borneo isolated pockets exist across the Malaysian govern states of sabba and Sarawak while larger groups have been seen further south in the Indonesian
• 35:30 - 36:00 territory of calaman tan but moves to allocate national parks and wildlife sanctuaries could well be too late the reason you keep going doing conservation in the field all the time is because you believe that something can be done otherwise you'd give up and go home I couldn't do my job if I wasn't
• 36:00 - 36:30 optimistic so yes I'd like to think they have a future the things that are needed for them to have a future is parly expanding these protected areas which the governments are working on the other thing that needs to be done broadly is education across the board more people worldwide not just here need to learn to see the value of something like a barus monkey more because ultimately you can come up with all sorts of economic reasons and in terms
• 36:30 - 37:00 of Tourism and in terms of forest ecology and all these other reasons why you should protect these animals but ultimately the only thing at the end of the day that's going to protect them is if people care about them [Music]
• 37:00 - 37:30 while the survival of many species is today largely dependent on captive breeding programs a similar project for the prascus monkey would be out of the question the primates are among the few wild animals which don't adapt to captivity and as a result they're seldom
• 37:30 - 38:00 seen in [Music] zoos the stress of capture usually leads to depression and in most cases the primates won't survive once taken from the wild as well most captive monkeys are fed fruit and nuts a diet which plays Happ with the complex digestive system of the
• 38:00 - 38:30 [Applause] prascus
• 38:30 - 39:00 the appeal of the prosus monkey means Wildlife authorities in Borneo constantly fending off Zoo requests taking a primate from the wild will be disastrous for the overall survival of the species the monkeys live in Herms and capturing
• 39:00 - 39:30 an adult male would halt breeding as well as disrupt the social order of the group farming out fuscus monkeys to various zoos would sign the death warrant for already dwindling populations in the wild
• 39:30 - 40:00 [Music] dusk settles over the reaches of the kinabatangan river the nasal honk of the big male Echoes
• 40:00 - 40:30 across the water as he gathers his clan together for the [Applause] night in a land riddled with waterways protecting such primates is a difficult task despite its high ranking on borneo's protected listing but even with a clamp down on Hunting the boscus monke monkey has a battle on its
• 40:30 - 41:00 hands such isolated populations encourage in breeding the effects of which will only be seen in time in the short term the animals are vulnerable to seasonal hurricanes storms and tropical disease blights endemic to such a region [Music]
• 41:00 - 41:30 [Music] Dr Liz Bennett is doing her bit to make sure the prosus monkey doesn't join the growing list of species consigned to
• 41:30 - 42:00 obscurity things are dying out now so fast and if
• 42:00 - 42:30 you look at a natural Baseline rate of extinctions over the last 60 million years or something we're now many many hundreds of times above that and so instead of a sort of slowly changing system with things coming in and dropping out of it now we've got things dropping out far greater than the rate of which anything is coming in and that's found to have a much broader effect on on the whole planet system
• 42:30 - 43:00 [Music] functions
• 43:00 - 43:30 [Music] the forests of Borneo are among the world's oldest for more than 100 million years they've remained closed their secrets held within a wild Tangled mass of plants and [Music] waterways once we were surrounded by
• 43:30 - 44:00 this Wilderness today Wilderness is surrounded by [Music] us if unique animals like the prosus monkey are to survive we need to allow them space in what was until recently their own
• 44:00 - 44:30 habitat they're such stunning animals and if people see them even just once or twice they're going to remember that for their whole life and that's something that we shouldn't lose
• 44:30 - 45:00 [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music]
• 45:00 - 45:30 [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] la [Music]
• 45:30 - 46:00 pap